Bucks Field Is Packed Lingenfelter Runs For Commissioner

January 06, 1995|by LESLIE KLEIN FUNK, The Morning Call

After running third for the state Senate as a Democrat and being tossed off the ballot for lieutenant governor as a Republican, Thomas A. Lingenfelter is running for Bucks County commissioner in the GOP primary.

"We have had the same people in there too long," Lingenfelter said yesterday of the commissioners and the county GOP.

"They have done what most people do who have been there too long. They take for granted certain things. They don't listen well anymore. They think leadership means that you dictate."

He joins a field of 17 Republicans seeking to replace Commissioner Mark S. Schweiker, who will become lieutenant governor Jan. 17.

Lingenfelter will also go head-to-head with Commissioner Chairman Andrew L. Warren, who wants to be re-elected to a fifth term.

Lingenfelter said the dispute over the draining of Lake Galena by two Montgomery County water authorities buying the Point Pleasant Pumping Station from the county shows the need for new blood in county government.

He argued that before proposing an initial solution, the commissioners failed to get public input on ways to approach the problem with the authorities.

The solution -- having the county buy the water back -- was "not good," he said.

He also criticized the commissioners for their 1995 budget.

Although it lowers the real estate tax by 2 mills, it increases spending.

Proceeds from the sale of the pumping station helped the commissioners cut taxes this year and will be set aside for tax relief in the next three years.

Lingenfelter said spending increases will "start to add up."

"What happens when the county has nothing to sell," he said.

Lingenfelter, 56, of Doylestown, labels himself as "a practical idealist" and "consensus builder" and said he was registered as an independent most of his life.

He concentrated on his business -- selling historical documents -- and for many years on sports, he said.

Now, "I'm at a time in my life when I can bring experience and knowledge" to politics and "reform the process."

"My primary issue is the process," he said. " ... If the process works well, issues will take care of themselves."

His specific goals as commissioner would be a "trimmed-down, cost-effective government, managed development of open space, and tax fairness."

He became a Republican in the fall of 1991 and switched to the Democratic Party after the 1991 election because he believed his opportunities to get involved politically would be limited in the close-knit Republican Party, he said.

He soon found himself involved as the state coordinator for Jerry Brown's campaign.

In 1993, he staged an upset by winning the Democratic nomination for the 10th District state Senate seat over Commissioner Sandra A. Miller.

But he ran third in the general election for the seat. Republican David W. Heckler took first place, while Patriot Party candidate Diane Blough came in second.

Lingenfelter said he had been uncomfortable becoming a Democrat and felt "much more kinship" with the Republicans. He switched back to the Republican Party.

Last spring, he began a bid for lieutenant governor.

He was kicked off the ballot after the state Supreme Court ruled that he did not have the required signatures on his nominating petitions.